Wednesday, 14 March 2018

The 10 Most Underrated Actors in Hollywood - No.8 Michael Stuhlbarg

It may have been a while since I've entered another actor to my list of underrated actors in Hollywood (and with his Oscar win a few weeks ago you could argue that Sam Rockwell no longer belongs on this list!), but with his inclusion in no less than three Oscar nominated films this year without earning a single nomination, I felt it was time to add to this list with another incredible actor yet to get full recognition for his fantastic body of work.

9. Michael Stuhlbarg:
Born in Long Beach California on 5th July 1965 Michael Stuhlbarg attended UCLA, and then The Juilliard School in New York City, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.While at UCLA, he was awarded a scholarship to study mime with Marcel Marceau.
His early acting career throughout the 90's and early 2000's consisted mainly of theatrical work with Stuhlbarg a main stay on Broadway in such productions as Cabaret, Taking Sides, Saint Joan, The Government Inspector, and The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh, which earned him a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, and his first nomination for a Tony Award.
Stuhlbarg's first major film role was in 2008 as Laurence Gopnik in Joel and Ethan Coen's A Serious Man, for which he received his first Golden Globe nomination. He again rose to prominence in his first major television role in the period drama series, Boardwalk Empire, in which he was cast as the organised crime figure Arnold Rothstein.
In the years to follow he would a Hollywood regular in a number of high-profile films: Arrival, Steve Jobs, Blue Jasmine, Hugo, Seven Psychopaths, Men In Black III, Trumbo, Lincoln, Miss Sloane, Doctor Strange, Miles Ahead, and Pawn Sacrifice to name a few.
This year he had the unique honour of appearing in three Best Picture Oscar nominated films: Luca Guadinino and James Ivory's Call Me By Your Name, Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water, and Steven Spielberg's The Post yet somehow failed to earn an Oscar nomination (his role in Call Me By Your Name arguably his best of the three and well worthy of a nomination and proving without doubt that this is an actor on top of his game.
Michael Stuhlbarg has shown his obvious versatility in his strong back catalogue of work and the fact that he is present in so many high (and not so high) profile films indicates the high esteem in which he is held amongst his peers. Surely, award recognition is soon to follow. Take a look at 5 exceptional performances below to see the rich catalogue of work this incredible actor already has with the promise of lots more to come: